China Syndrome
by Michael Khale
Summary: "This sich is messed up," Kim though to herself. "It's like bad mix between a Tom Clancy novel and Modern Warfare."
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He lived a small condominium in Beijing, located in what Americans would call a "yuppie" neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. It was a somewhat unlikely place to find a martial arts master as most chose to withdraw from the world, but he had apparently chosen to live among the masses. This accessibility meant that, among other things, Long San Qiang was going to be in for a very interesting visit this afternoon.

Shego adjusted her dress - a departure from her usual wardrobe, but a vital necessity in the hot Chinese summer - and knocked on the door, going over Mandarin phrases in her head. After a few minutes of reviewing, the door opened revealing a young man in his early thirties dressed in a business suit.

"Can I help you, Ma'am?" He asked politely, in impeccable British English. minutes

"Long San Qiang?" He was definitely not the kind of person Shego had in mind.

"Biosyntheic engineer, at your service." He did not invite her in, which resulted in the two staring at each other through the doorway.

"I was expecting someone older," Shego finally articulated. "And with a beard. May long white eyebrows."

"Oh, I see. This isn't about business, is it? Did Lin tell you where I was?"

Abbot Lin was the current head of the Shaolin monastery. He had in fact told Shego to seek out Long San Qiang in Beijing for training; she was beginning to suspect that he had said so to get rid of her.

"He told me that there was no one better to learn Tai Chi from," Shego replied cautiously. "Though to be honest, you're not what I expected."

"And you're not exactly a typical student." He frowned as he studied her form. "You're that supervillain I keep seeing on the news, aren't you?"

Well, the cat was out of the bag now. There was only one thing to do; flaunt it.

"Villainess, actually," Shego declared proudly, placing her hands on her hips.

"And you're here because you want to...?"

"Well, after getting my ass handed to fighting a teenager for the past few years, I felt I could use some more training."

Shego fidgeted nervously as his frown deepened. After what seemed like an eternity, he opened the door all the way and motioned for her to come in.

"Full marks for honesty, but I think some clarifications are in order," he explained, closing the door behind her. She stood awkwardly in his living room while he sat down on the couch. "One: Most people who can speak English call me Victor, since I was born in Hong Kong while it was still a British colony. Two: I'm a master of meditation and other mental techniques, not any martial art in particular, though I guess I'm also good for some Tai Chi. Three: Didn't you just get pardoned for saving the world?"

The abrupt transition of topic from him to her caught Shego off guard. "I, er, yes."

Victor raised an eyebrow, clear interested in hearing more.

"Just because I did something good doesn't make me a good person," Shego explained defensively. "Drakken may have gone soft, but me? No way. I haven't been good since I left my brothers. Not counting instances of mind control."

"Does the phrase 'bad to the bone' apply to this situation?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"You're not motivating me to teach you, you know."

"You're not exactly a martial artist, so I take it we're even?"

They stared at each other, each sizing the other up. Victor was clearly irritated by her attitude.

"The martial arts are more about self-discipline than beating people up," he explained, as if talking to a very stupid child. Shego forced herself to restrain her Fist of Death and hear him out. "Judging by your tone, I'd guess that you either never had a competent instructor, or if you had, never paid attention to anything other than combat?"

Memories of her time as a member of Team Go came to mind, with Hego at the front and dressed for karate class.

"Both," Shego replied. "He was a hack and I learned to take what I could from him and move on. Quickly. Haven't had one since; few people want to train villains."

"Or villainesses, apparently." Victor added. "So you're mostly self taught?"

Shego nodded, affirming his guess.

"Alright, then you'd better take a seat while I explain some things to you." He waited until she sat down on the other end of the couch before continuing. "The martial arts have a long history in China, stretching back thousands of years, but the modern martial arts that people hear about today are a more recent phenomenon. They are more than just a way of fighting, incorporating spiritual elements as well. It is important to take in the entire spectrum of - you're not listening, are you?"

Shego's eyes widened like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights. At least he was more attentive than Drakken.

"Sure I was," she lied. "Long history, spiritual elements, holistic understanding."

"Bloody Yanks, they're always the same," Victor muttered. "Look, I've spent most of my life doing kung fu, two decades studying Tai Chi, and have been working on and off on researching the path of enlightenment though asskicking for a book I am trying to write, so when I say something you might want to listen."

"Sorry, I'll pay attention. Scout's honor." Shego made the Pixie Scout sign with her fingers; though the meteor had cut her fledgling career short she really did meant it this time.

"As I was saying," Victor continued, keeping his eye on Shego, "It's not just about fighting; spirituality and morality are an important part of the modern martial arts. Your opponent probably knows this, one of the benefits of formal training and actually paying attention to her instructor."

Shego ignored the dig at her. "Why, though?"

"Offhand, it makes you a better person and prevents the misuse of martial arts."

"Like in the original Karate Kid?"

"Yes... something like that. It also teaches you discipline so your emotions do not become an obstacle - something that I'm guessing is a problem?"

"Only... yeah."

"Finally, it expands your awareness. It allows you to get in touch with yourself, and with your enemy so you can respond naturally and instinctively to the pace of battle. Sound good?"

Shego nodded again. "So, you'll teach me?"

"If you're willing to learn."

"And if I use your teachings for evil instead of good?" Shego asked playfully, relieved that he had accepted her.

"I'm pretty sure you don't need my help for that," Victor frowned.

"But I could become an unstoppable force, steamrolling over the forces of good with my newfound martial prowess and take over the world!" Shego quickly assumed a dramatic stance and set her hands alight to emphasize her point.

"Any bloke with a sniper rifle has a good chance of taking you out no matter how good you became at beating people up with your bare hands," Victor pointed out. "You don't warrant that kind of attention now, but if you ever overdid it I'm sure you'd find yourself in the cross-hairs pretty quickly."

"Joykill," Shego muttered, extinguishing her flames and sitting back down. "So why are you doing this if you know I'm up to know good?"

"I suppose I might as well; 'The master accepts both saints and sinners', after all. On the more practical side, it's something of a dying art since everyone wants to learn the flashy parts and ignore the fundamentals. I blame movies, personally."

"I'm willing to learn," Shego hastily replied, before he could remember that she referenced The Karate Kid. "When do I start?"

"After dinner. I've been stuck in conferences all day."

Dinner that night consisted of Chinese takeout. Shego found it very amusing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Papers were the bane of every college student's existence. Every class demanded an essay on a semi-regular basis, and if it was not an essay, it was a lab report, or some other form of writing assignment that made Kim want to pull her hair out in frustration and stomp out of Middleton University vowing never to return in order to devote herself to a lifetime of globetrotting and heroism.

Unfortunately, Dr. Director had made it perfectly clear that if Kim wanted to become a Global Justice agent, she would have to graduate college, and so Kim resigned herself to the fact that her immediate future was going to be spent in a library instead of taking action in a world that needed her help. Unless, of course, someone were to contact her with a dire request for assistance, one which she could not reasonably turn down despite her workload.

Right on cue, her Kimmunicator vibrated. Either she was going to receive a perfectly valid excuse for procrastination, or the batteries were about to die. As she brought it out of her pocket, she saw that she was in luck; Wade's face graced the screen for the first time in two months.

"Talk to me Wade," Kim moaned. "I'm being worked to death here."

"I know the feeling," Wade nodded sympathetically. "I just submitted my second Ph.D thesis for review. Most stressful month of my life."

"And you're still too young to drive a car," Kim mused. "So what's the sitch, or are you just calling for old time's sake?"

"Well... you know I haven't heard from you since college started in... late August, was it? I'm a little concerned about how well you're adjusting. I mean, it's different from high school, isn't it? Can't really afford as much time for extracurriculars, interning with Global Justice, and saving the world all at once with your classes. I guess the whole thing with Ron didn't help either..."

Wade trailed off, unsure of whether Kim was in the mood to talk about that particular issue.

"I'm keeping up with the classes, and Ron is still my best friend, thank you very much." Kim's abrupt tone added a bit more to the sentence: _And I'd appreciate it if you didn't pry._

"Alright, just thought I'd make sure my two favorite people in the world were doing alright," Wade laughed nervously. "Anyways, Kim, we just got a hit on your site from the Chinese government."

"Is this about the Shrine of the Monkey God incident with Monkey Fist last summer?" Kim asked. "Because if they still think it's Ron's fault that all the monkeys in the Beijing Zoo got possessed and started flinging -"

"No, no, don't remind me," Wade interrupted, as memories of that event flashed before his eyes. "They've dropped all the charges against him. This time, it's Shego."

* * *

Shego stood outside with Victor in the hot July sun, in the small park full of older men and women, all of whom were practicing Tai Chi. It was a little awkward being in the mist of a crowd of senior citizens, but she fit in surprisingly well for someone with green skin. Victor practiced next to her, since he was the only one who could speak English and instruct her.

"Not so fast," he corrected for the umpteenth time, slowly performing beside her. "Tai Chi is an soft martial art which stresses balance and internal strength as opposed to hard styles which emphasize external force. Instead of resisting an attack, you're supposed to follow through the motion and use the enemy's force against them, either exhausting the enemy's attack or redirecting it."

"I'm not sure that's what I'm looking for," Shego replied, as she mimicked the movements of everyone around her. "I don't do gentle."

"That's why you should learn some. It'll help give you a balanced perspective on the martial arts."

"And balance is the key," Shego added dryly.

"... maybe."

"Come on, you know you were going to say it," Shego grinned smugly. Victor responded by making a rude gesture at her with two of his fingers.

* * *

Kim leaned back into her seat, stretched her legs, and enjoyed the luxury of a Boeing 767 airliner. Unlike her usual method of getting around to missions, the Chinese government had offered to foot the bill for her trip. They were rather insistent on having her available as soon as possible - she was picked up less than an hour after accepting the offer - even though the exact reason why she was needed was never revealed in detail. They would only that it had something to do with Shego and that the Chinese government wanted to handle it discretely.

_She must have done something really big this time_, Kim thought to herself. _Pity... she manage to clean for about five months, but I guess it was too much to hope for. Drakken went straight because all he ever wanted was some respect and recognition, but Shego... Shego just likes being bad. Probably gets off on the thrill of breaking the law._

Kim sighed. Part of her had hoped that Shego would have settled down, and maybe even resume the brief friendship they shared when she was Miss Go. It would have been fun, but ultimately some things just were not going to happen, and Shego reforming was one of them.

* * *

"Not again," Shego whined. "Please, please teach me something new? I've been doing the same thing for weeks."

She put on her best puppy dog pout, the one that she had used on Kim Possible to devastating effect when she was on the run from her brothers, and which had been improved after Kim had tried it on her during the Lowardian invasion. Surely no man alive could resist her sad look.

"No." Victor did not even bother to look away from the Jackie Chan movie he was watching. "Go back to work, I'm having fun."

"Come on, Victor, Kim knows 17 different kinds of kung fu. I'm behind as is and not getting any younger; if I want to catch up with her, I'm going to need to step it up."

"What makes you think learning 17 styles is better than learning one?" Victor paused the movie and turned to face her. "Success at fighting is not about how much you know, but about how well you know it. Ever hear Bruce Lee talking about how he feared the man who practiced one kick a thousand times more than he feared the man who practiced a thousand kicks one time?"

"Bruce Lee knew a lot more than just one style," Shego pointed out.

"Bruce Lee was an advocate of transcending styles, which is why he founded Jeet Kune Do, the 'style without a style'. The style you start off with is only the first step on the journey; eventually, you're going to move beyond styles which renders the need to learn 17 kinds of martial arts pointless as a means to improve your fighting ability."

"So the best fighters use no style at all?" Shego still did not quite believe what she was hearing.

"The best fight without actually fighting... but if you're going to have combat, then it's best to not get entrenched in a particular style." Victor unpaused the film and returned his gaze to the television.

"Wait, you're telling me that it's best to 'fight without fighting'? But then it's not... fighting."

"When you are in a conflict you engage the enemy on different levels, mentally and physically. He who can overcome the opponent mentally has won more thoroughly than if he had beaten the enemy physically. A victory achieved with the maximum thoroughness and minimum expense of resource is the best kind of victory, wouldn't you say?"

"I guess... I never thought about it that way. Talking your way out of a fight always seemed... soft."

"What's wrong with being soft? Water is soft, but can wear though stone; the tree that bends with the wind survives a storm more easily than the ones which do not."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Vic, I respect you as a person and as a teacher, but if you got any cheesier you'd be asking me to snatch a pebble out of your hand. You need to lay off the bad kung fu movies."

"Hey, Jackie Chan is awesome. You're just too much of a philistine to appreciate him." Victor feigned indignation as he shooed her away with the remote. "Now will you please do as you're told and go meditate? My project at work is almost ready, and I'll probably be too busy to teach you anything then."

"But that sounds so much cooler; can we please talk about that? Please? Pleeeease?"

* * *

"Miss Possible?" The man waiting for her at the gate was polite, courteous, and dressed in the uniform of a People's Liberation Army officer. "I'm Major Li Hong, PLA Internal Security."

"Yeah, I'm Kim." She smiled as he shook her hand and motioned for her to follow him.

"The People's Republic is honored that you could come on such short notice. I understand that you had to take a leave of absence from your classes to be here?"

"It was no big," Kim lied. Professor Philips would probably kill her when he heard that she was going to miss her freshman seminar again.

"The ambassador will let your school know that it is appreciated." Maybe there was still hope.

"So what is the sitch with Shego, exactly? I understand if you want to keep it wrapped up, but it's kinda been nagging at me for the entire flight."

"I'm afraid I can't tell you before you sign a confidentiality agreement." The major waved off several custom officials and lead Kim through a passage normally reserved for diplomats. "But rest assured, it will be worth your time."

Half an hour later, Kim found herself stepping into the lobby of a small, nondescript building overlooking Tian An Men square which advertised itself as an employment agency. Li flashed an ID badge at the security station in the lobby and strolled past a secretary to enter a busy office.

"Let me guess, they aren't talking about finding jobs for people, are they?" Kim could not understand Chinese, but she was fairly certain that office talk around here had to do with national security.

"Not bad," he grinned. "Though I can see you were a bit put off by the appearance. Were you expecting some sort of high-tech base? A trap door, secret tunnel, and an elevator taking you down 5 stories into a bunker of some sort?"

"It is par for the course at Global Justice," Kim replied, thinking of the institution's main base of operations. "But I guess hiding in plain sight has its advantages."

"Cheaper, too." Li lead her to an empty cubicle and offered her a seat. "Welcome to my humble abode. If you'll take a minute to fill out the confidentiality agreement and liability waiver on my desk, I can let you read this."

He pulled out a folder from beneath a pile of paperwork and held it in front of Kim. Shego's photo was sticking out of the mess inside of it; it was the exact same photograph Kim had taped to the inside of her locker. Kim felt a shiver of anticipation flow through her at the thought of fighting her old enemy again

"Where do I sign?"

* * *

Victor drummed his fingers on his laptop as he tried to concisely sum up his work.

"It's biosynthetic in nature. Do you know what that means?"

"I've hung around mad scientists enough to get a general idea," Shego answered. "It refers to something with both biological and artificial components."

"That about covers it," Victor nodded. "They are being designed as an alternative to nanomachines, since neurons can't be taken out with an EMP. It's a rather interesting field."

He turned the laptop around so Shego could take a look at it. The photo on the screen showed a dark green body suit, somewhat bulkier than Kim's battlesuit, which looked like it came with its own set of muscles under the skin.

"The suit provides a decent amount of protection from most of the dangers you'd expect in a modern warzone, contains artificial muscles, an active camouflage system built into the skin, and electric glands in the hands for combat. Most of the critical systems are housed in that small compartment on the back - oxygen scrubbers, electronics, the neural interface, etc."

"That's pretty impressive." Shego took in a large mouthful of tea as she contemplated the suit. "So, it's top of the line hardware?"

"Beyond top of the line. There's people who would kill for this kind of technology.

* * *

Kim scrawled her signature on the paperwork, barely reading the legal text in her haste to find out what was going on. Li handed her the folder as soon as she was done, and it opened to reveal photographs of a crime scene, with far too much blood on the ground.

"That was taken a two days ago from a civilian bioengineering research building. The PLA commissioned a Nuclear/Biological/Chemical battlesuit, with many special features, and the first working model was going to be unveiled today. Unfortunately, someone broke into the lab and stole it two days ago. Murdered the head researcher too; from what we could tell, he fought the thief and got kicked off a roof into heavy traffic for his troubles. Trust me, you don't want to see the photos of the body."

Li gave a momentary grimace before continuing. "The researcher's home was broken into some time after the murder, and a lot of his personal files were stolen, likely the ones having to do with how to make use of the suit."

"And you think Shego is behind it all?" Kim asked, leafing through the file. Most of it was in Chinese, but she could understand the pictures. Li was right; she did not want to see the victim's body.

"We have footage of her interacting with the researcher before his death. They were practicing martial arts together and living in the same house, though she disappeared a few days before his death. She's our best lead so far."

"Shego's never killed anyone before, though." Kim thought back to her encounters with Shego; the two never held back against each other, but Shego never crossed that particular line before. Although there was that one time she collapsed a building on Kim. And that time she detached Kim's jetpack while she was flying. And that time...

Shego could defiantly kill. Hell, Kim herself has nearly killed, on one occasion. How much easier would it be for someone who was used to breaking the law on a daily basis.

"But she's definitely ruthless enough for it to be a possibility. So, you think I'm be the best person for the job?" Kim asked, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"She's a dangerous woman, and you're the only one who's been able to consistently match her. We could take her down using lethal force, but then it would be impossible to interrogate her. We would much prefer that she be alive."

"Understood," Kim answered. "I'll see what I can do."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Great Wall was hot. The sun beat down on Shego with every step she took, and the numerous tourists blocking her way did little to improve her mood. Still, she had to do something now that she did not have a teacher, and vising landmarks seemed as good a plan as any.

Shego stopped in the shade of a watchtower and bought a bottle of water off of a vendor to cool down. As she drank the cool liquid, she noticed a sudden movement. She reflexively checked over her shoulder, but then told herself to knock it off; she did not need to be in combat mode right now. This was a vacation.

Shego returned her attention to the water only to find Kim Possible standing in front of her, dressed in her usual mission gear.

"Sup, Shego? Been busy?" Kim asked as she assumed a fighting position.

"What's little Miss Priss doing out on a school night, hm?" Shego fired back, with a twinkle in here eye. Now here was something to get excited about. "Did you miss me that much?"

"Not as much as you missed breaking the law," Kim retorted. "Now, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

Shego laughed in her face. "Princess, you're out of your jurisdiction and out of your league. I am not impressed."

"Always the hard way, eh?" Kim opened with a flying kick, but Shego ducked to avoid it and threw her bottle at Kim, who caught a face full of water. She instinctively closed her eyes to keep the water out, which gave Shego an opportunity to attack by punching her hard in face. Shego had hoped to break a nose, but a helmet suddenly deployed over Kim's face and absorbed the blow.

"Did Kimmie-cub bring the suit out for little ol' me?" Shego smirked as Kim recovered and attempted to sweep Shego's legs out from under her. Kim followed up with a ferocious series of punches and kicks that drove Shego up the stairs to the watch tower and against the wall. When there was no more room behind her, Shego quickly jumped up and caught the edge of the watchtower's roof and swung herself onto it. "You know I love it when you dress up."

Kim growled and jumped on to the roof in pursuit. The two women gazed at each other warily, each sizing up the opposition. Shego knew that Kim's suit gave her a decisive advantage in combat, and made a mental note to grapple with the teenager instead of going for a direct attack with plasma. Kim kept her eyes on Shego's hands in case they flared up, and noted that Shego's fighting style had changed enough to put her off in the beginning.

"Cut the crap, Shego. You know what you did."

"Aww, am I getting under your skin?" Shego did not wait for a response and lashed out at Kim with a palm strike to her center of mass. Kim caught Shego by the wrist and twisted around in order to plant her elbow in Shego's stomach. Kim then threw Shego to the opposite side of the roof, where the thief landed in a heap.

"I'm tired of playing games." Kim glared down at Shego as the thief scrambled to get up. "I suggest you surrender now before I get serious."

"Bring it, Pumpkin." Shego lit her hands up, but before she could act the sharp crack of a gun shot rang through the air, and a bullet impacted against Shego's chest. It was followed by two more in rapid succession, both of which found their mark. Shego found herself stumbling backwards from the impact and caught a terrific view of the sky as her legs caught against the ramparts, causing her body to lean far over the edge. Kim threw herself forward and grabbed onto Shego's waist to prevent her from falling over the edge, then threw her to the ground and covered Shego with her own body as she tried to ascertain where the bullets had come from.

"I must say, Princess," Shego wheezed from somewhere between Kim's breasts, "This sort of thing usually doesn't happen until the second date."

"Shut up, Shego," Kim hissed back. "I'm trying to save your damn life here."

Kim brought her wrist to up to her face and activated the communicator watch.

"Li, we've got a sniper!" Her eyes darted back and forth, scanning the other watchtowers for signs of a gunman.

"I know, I authorized it," a man on the other side of the watch answered. "Thought you might have needed some help getting this over with before any civilians got hurt so I had one of my men lob a few rubber bullets over. Did it work?"

Kim looked into the watch and shot the man a look of great annoyance.

"Yes, thank you. Please don't do it again." She hung up on him and turned her attention back to Shego. "Now, are you ready to come in?"

The pale green woman weighed her options for a moment before holding her hands out for Kim to cuff. "Alright, but don't get any ideas; the kinky stuff's strictly off limits until I get to know you better."

* * *

Shego laying in the back of a police van with a medic hovering over her, checking Shego's chest for any damage inflicted by the rubber bullets.

"Enjoying the view, Pumpkin?" Shego drawled, thrusting her naked chest out for Kim's benefit.

"Don't flatter yourself Shego." Kim looked away as she said it, and Shego was certain that the teenage heroine was blushing.

"No shame in admitting it, kid. You wouldn't be the first woman to want a piece of this." Shego winked and slapped her thigh with the hand not cuffed to Kim's wrist.

"So not interested," Kim muttered disdainfully. "How are the wounds?"

Shego grinned at the abrupt change in subject and made a note to bug Kim about it later. "I'll live, but when I get a hold of the idiot that shot me..."

The medic looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Shego asked. "Something wrong?"

"I shot you," she replied coolly.

"You're fucking pulling my leg. Sniper and medic? What do you do, heal people so you can shoot them again?"

She shrugged. "I'm a better marksman than the team sniper. I just happen to be bad at all other aspects of sniping, and really good at medicine."

Shego looked up at her thoughtfully. "Not bad, I think you might be my type of girl. Are you busy later?"

"Shego!" Kim smacked her forehead in annoyance. "You are not hitting on the medic!"

"What's the matter, jealous?" Shego was clearly enjoying herself at Kim's expense. "Thought you weren't interested."

"In your dreams, Shego," Kim snapped, growing tired of the banter. She clamped her hand over Shego's mouth before the woman could say anything else and addressed the medic directly. "So, what's the sitch?"

"Probably a broken rib in addition to the bruising, but it's nothing serious. She should be fine unless she runs a marathon in the next few days or something."

"I'll be back to normal in a couple of hours, tops," Shego stated, worming her way out of Kim's grasp. "I heal quicker than most people."

"Good for you." The medic gave a disinterested reply as she zipped up Shego's catsuit.

"Thanks for putting up with her." Kim extended a hand and the medic shook it. "What's your name?"

"Liu Chan, 2nd lieutenant, PLA medical corps. It's an honor to meet you."

"I'm Shego." Evidently Shego felt it necessary to join in by offering her hand as well. After a moment's hesitation, Liu Chan shook it as well.

"I know who you are. They say you stole ten pandas from Yunnan two years ago."

Shego gave a derisive laugh at the accusation. "Please, I may be a thief but I'm not _Carmen Sandiego_... although she was pretty cool, in a 90's kind of way. Hey, Princess, you think I'd look good in a red trench coat and fedora?"

Kim frowned at her. Shego seemed so unfazed by everything that had happened so far, despite the seriousness of the situation. It was getting on her nerves. "You're being incredibly flippant for someone who's going to be in jail for a very, very long time."

"You know, I shouldn't expect the same kind of treatment I'd get in the US, but now that you've brought it up, can someone please tell me what I'm being charged with? Let's just assume for a moment that I really have no idea what this is about."

There was a pregnant pause in the van, then the medic raised her hand.

The driver nearly drove the car off of the highway due to the resulting disturbance from the back.

**"THEY SAID WHAT?"**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit," Shego snarled, as the van doors were opened by a team of heavily armed guards.

"Shego, I am well aware of your opinion on the situation," Kim groaned, hauling her out of the vehicle and into the parking garage of the Internal Security building. "You've been yelling about it for three hours."

"That's because it is without a doubt the most complete and thoroughly utter bullshit I have ever head in my life. I didn't kill him." Shego actually looked scared; there were signs of panic in her eyes. "Come on, Pumpkin, you know I wouldn't kill anyone."

"I beg to differ." Kim did not believe her; Shego was probably just afraid of winding up in a Chinese prison. From the Global Justice reports Kim had read, they seemed to be brutal places.

"Hello, plasma powers?" Shego lit up her hands briefly and waved them in Kim's face. The guards raised their weapons, but the medic motioned that it was unnecessary. "I can melt _titanium_; Do you really think you'd be standing her if I wanted you dead? I can shoot a rifle; do you really think you'd be alive right now if I was the type to go for murder, especially considering you take the exact same route to school every day?"

"You put me in death traps. You collapsed buildings on me. You've thrown me off flying vehicles. Shego, if I was having a very good day and you were being extra nice, you might have convinced me that you were just getting carried away, but there is no way I'm going to buy that you **never **tried to kill me."

The two women held an intense staring contest, as if a duel of wills would prove who was right. The guards fidgeted nervously as they held their position around the pair, with no one daring to interrupt them. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

The glaring contest continued in the interrogation room. Shego and Kim sat around a corner of the table while Major Li took position opposite of Shego and began to take files out of the manila case folder.

""I take it, from the tension in this room, that you know why you are here?" Li asked.

"Princess was kind enough to tell me on the way over," Shego glared. "So how does this work? Do you read me the charges, arrange a rigged trial, and throw me in a laogai for the next twenty years?"

"I'm afraid you're about thirty years too late for that." Li ignored the attempt to rile him and handed her a small document. "You will be detained until your trial, likely three months from now, which will be supervised by Global Justice in order to ensure that things are handled properly."

"So that's why I'm with the leash?" Shego waved the hand cuffed to Kim's in the air, leaving no doubt as to what the term referred to. "Figured you'd get in some cruel and unusual punishment before GJ arrived on the scene?"

"Miss Possible is actually here to keep an eye on you as an official Global Justice observer, until a secure holding cell is assembled to house you, which should be sometime tomorrow. Now, shall we get started?"

Shego drummed her fingers against the table, evidently plotting how to use the information to her advantage. Kim did not like the smile that crept on up her face.

"Officer," Shego announced sweetly, "I need to go to the bathroom."

* * *

Shego returned from the bathroom with an incredibly smug look on her face, while Kim was blushing so hard that she was in actual danger of bursting into flames. Major Li figured that he did not want to know what transpired and decided to mind his own business.

"Just to be clear, the charges against you are that you broke into a research facility, stole a PLA battle suit prototype, murdered a researcher, and broke into his house to steal project data. There's also... a parking violation?" Li flipped through his papers in disbelief. "For occupying a fire lane?"

"And I'm sure that's simply _unforgivable_," Shego added.

"Shego, do you take _anything _seriously?" Kim snapped, irritated by the woman's flippant attitude towards murder charges. "Because if you don't, this would be a _really _good time to start!"

"Well excuse me, Princess, but I find this whole thing stupid beyond belief." Shego leaned back in her chair and started counting off on her fingers. "One: If I had snuck into steal something, no one would have noticed. I'm that good; Two: it's not my MO to go killing people; Three: You know I was staying with him, so why would I even need to break into his house?"

She stared at the other two defiantly. "Got an answer to those points, anyone?"

"Innocent or not, that's really not my call." Li deflected her logic like an experienced bureaucrat. "We're just here to hold onto you until the trial starts, so I suggest you save it for the judge."

"Balls," Shego grumbled, sinking down into her chair as Li went back to reading from the case file.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Li tilted his chair back against the wall of his cubicle and stretched the best he could in the cramped office space. Contrary to the glamorous, James Bond-esque lifestyles of secret agents seen in movies and cartoons, real life intelligence work more often than not involved sitting at a desk and cultivating a case of carpal tunnel syndrome. His wrist was acting up and the aspirin he had taken earlier was not working; he briefly entertained the thought of walking across the office and asking Liu Chan for some physical therapy and perhaps a massage, but then decided against it on the grounds that everyone would hate him if he was the cause of one of those awkward sexual harassment seminars.

His computer chimed, signaling that he had a new message. Li had apparently been summoned to an urgent staff meeting upstairs, in what his fellow agents referred to as the "situation room". It was probably a bad sign, but at least he'd get to put off a debilitating nerve condition for another day.

* * *

"Goddamn foreign utensils!"

Shego stabbed a dumpling with a deadly blow from her her chopsticks and brought it to her mouth, finally managing to eat something with the accursed sticks. Kim stared at her from across the food splattered cafeteria table, vaguely embarrassed to be seen with the criminal. People were staring at them.

"Shego, you've been in China for months. How did you avoid using those until now?"

"Fortunately for me, Victor was British and had a proper set of silverware on hand."

"He let you eat with him?"

"He also treated me to dinner. Best training ever; makes me a little sad that he's dead." Shego locked eyes with Kim. "Come on, Princess, you don't really think I'm a killer do you? Just because I don't cry and get sad in front of you and shit doesn't mean I don't feel anything. I'll admit that I get carried away in our fights, but that's only because we have this... thing between us. I've never tried to kill you in cold blood or anything, have I?"

"Fair enough, I guess," Kim shrugged, not entirely sure how to respond.

"What, you believed me that easily?"

"Like I said, you could convince me if you were being polite and I was having a good day. Still doesn't mean you're innocent, though."

Shego groaned. "Little ray of sunshine, you are. Thanks for being a spot of warmth in my cold and fulfilling life, sweetheart."

"You are so not guilting me into anything, Shego." Kim reached over and intended on slapping Shego upside the head in jest, but the villainess caught Kim's wrist and initiated a small tussle over the cafeteria table, which ended with Kim straddling her and pinning Shego's arms down on her chest.

"Princess, I already told you not on the first date," Shego replied seductively. "Besides, if you're expecting me to put out you're going to have to do better than crappy Chinese food."

"You're hopeless," Kim groaned, letting go of Shego's arms. "Simply incorrigible."

"And that's my darling's SAT word for the day, is it?" Shego purred from beneath Kim. "No wonder you got into Middleton University."

"Funny, I thought it was due to my extra-curriculars." Kim's response drew chuckles from the both of them. It got so bad that Shego was forced to close her eyes and bite the inside of her cheek to stifle the laughter.

"Princess, we have a really fucked up relationship." Shego breathed, when she had finally managed to control herself. "Friends one moment, enemies the next... and don't even get me started on all the subtext. Keeping photos of each other, bondage, catfights, mud wrestling, the pet names..."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you were an international wanted criminal who tied me up, fought with me at every opportunity, and have an irrational fondness for sarcasm. If there's any subtext, it's cause you put it there." Kim stuck out her tongue at Shego to further emphasize the point.

"Princess," Shego drawled, "You're the one straddling me, not the other way around."

Kim blushed and scrambled for a retort, but a dry cough interrupted the conversation.

"Am I... interrupting anything?" Li asked, stepping into view. He wore a frown on his face and a pistol around his waist.

"Nothing at all," Kim answered, clamping a hand over Shego's mouth before the villainess could say something embarrassing. "What do you need?"

He held out a clipboard and tossed it at Shego. "She needs to sign that."

Shego caught it and glanced down. It was a non-disclosure agreement.

"Fuck do I need this for?" Shego's muffled voice made itself heard from under Kim's fingers.

"I need to update the both of you on something highly sensitive. Please sign it." Li's voice was tense and strained, like a tripwire.

"Is it worth it?" Shego asked, fishing a pen out of Kim's pocket and twirling it in her hands.

"We'll drop the charges against you if you just sign the damn document, ok?"

Shego scrawled her name as soon as Li mentioned dropping the charges and flung the clipboard back at him before he finished.

"Come on," he motioned. "Let's go somewhere more secure.

* * *

Shego leaned back in the chair of the officer's lounge with her feet on a coffee table, enjoying her new found freedom from the leash. Said leash was staring disapprovingly at her posture from a couch; it seemed that a few semesters at college had yet to take the stick out of Kim's... uptight behavior.

"So what's prompted this sudden change of heart?" Shego asked nonchalantly, sipping a cold Tsingtao beer in celebration of her release.

"New developments in the case have made us reconsider your role in the incident," Li explained mechanically. "Photos taken by security cameras of the culprit only showed a person wearing the suit with a helmet, so we could not establish an identity, but our computer technicians found a way to process the image to compensate for the helmet's reflective visor. It turns out that the person wearing it was an ultra-nationalist by the name of Gongsun Yang, who's been something of a nuisance for years with his expansionist rhetoric."

"And you wanted a confidentiality agreement for that?" Kim raised an eyebrow in Li's direction.

"No, but what happens next... we lost contact with one of our missile silos in Tibet four hours ago, and the last transmission they sent indicated that someone using the combat suit was leading the attack. We'd like to hire you two to assist in retaking the silo."

Kim's jaw dropped as she heard the news; Shego calmly finished her beer before asking questions.

"What exactly does he have control over, and what does he plan on doing with it?"

"Four ICBMs armed with thermonuclear warheads, fully capable of reaching as far as the east coast of America. He has yet to issue any demands, but the missiles missiles only two hours to fuel so they could theoretically be operational by now. We don't know if he has any way to actually launch the missiles, but we think it is likely he had inside help in taking the base. The Politburo want this situation resolved as quickly as possible, and is prepared to offer a generous sum for your assistance."

"I'll take it," Shego responded. Her cash reserves had been running a tad low after the Lowardian invasion due to being effectively unemployed in the aftermath.

"I'll do it for free." Kim's persistent disapproval was now directed at Shego's mercenary attitude, which, to Shego, meant that it was time to have a little fun at Kim's expense again.

"Ooh, can I have her share?" Shego asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at Li.

Li stood up, evidently not amused by her antics. "Ten million is more than enough. Now if you excuse me, I have to assemble an Internal Security team. We'll be heading out within the hour."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Looks like we're in for a wild ride, eh Princess?" Shejo jabbed her fist into Kim's shoulder and laughed as the Chinese troop transport jet's engines roared to life after takeoff. "We'll be at Lhasa by midnight and kicking ass till morning."

Shego's jubilant exuberance stood in stark contrast to the moods of the other occupants in the plane; the Internal Security teams looked incredibly grim, and Kim shared their feelings. Hijacked nuclear missiles were no laughing matter. There was only one thing that could be done with an ICBM, and it was never a good thing.

"Adrenaline junkie much?" Kim asked coolly, hoping that Shego would take the hint and quiet down.

"The rush is always nice," Shego admitted, "But mainly it's cause I look forward to a bit of payback."

Kim raised an eyebrow. Shego shrugged.

"Like I said, just because I don't get all emotional doesn't mean I have don't feelings."

Kim mumbled something indistinctly about Shego's bad grammar and turned her attention to the engineer opposite her, who was busy checking over his explosives. Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep some distance from him when the fighting broke out, just in case...

"Hey, Princess?" Shego tapped Kim on the shoulder after a few minutes of silence. "What do you have against me?"

"Pardon?" Kim shook her head to clear out thoughts of death and looked over at Shego. "What did you say?"

"Everything I do seems to just irritate you far more than normal. I was wondering why."

"That's not..." Kim immediately tried to deny it, but the look on Shego's face told her the woman was not convinced. Kim froze as she tried to come up with an excuse.

"Forget it," Shego dismissed. "It's none of my business what you think of me. Just a bit too curious for my own good."

"Wait, it's... I'll tell you, just give me a moment to sort it out, ok?" Kim took a deep breath and continued. "You're really sarcastic, even when it's not appropriate, but normally I don't mind. It's just that this time... I guess I was just weirded out by the thought that you might have committed murder, and then I saw you being so flippant about everything. It bugged me that you didn't seem to care about how serious the situation was. There's also... well, you remind me a lot about myself, and it always bothers me that we're much more similar than I'd like for us to be. When I see you, I sometimes wonder if I'd ever turn out like you, and this time, I was worrying if I'd ever kill someone."

Kim's eyes found their way to the floor and stuck there.

"It's silly, isn't it?"

"Nah." Shego put her arm around Kim's shoulder and gave her a surprisingly reassuring squeeze. "It makes sense considering that you almost did me in last year, but I wouldn't worry about it. I was never really what you'd call 'good', and you don't have it in you to be evil, or a killer. Makes me wonder why you signed on for this mission, considering... well, unlike GJ, the commandos here have guns and they plan on using them."

Kim's eyes shot up and looked around the plane. "I... maybe it won't happen. I've always been able to handle situations without casualties before, haven't I?"

"You'll try, Princess, but that's no guarantee. This isn't exactly a Disney channel cartoon we're living in, it's a real world filled with all sorts of unpleasant things."

There was another long period of silence as Kim contemplated the fact that there might be killing involved. She did not like the possibility. Conversation on the plane fell into a lull again, and the sound of equipment being checked joined the jet engines in filling the space aboard the aircraft.

"Hey, Shego?" Kim was the one to break it this time. "Why do you care?"

Kim's question caught Shego off guard, given the subject of their previous conversation. Much to her embarrassment, Shego found herself stammering as she scrambled for an answer.

"I, well, you know... despite everything, I do respect you for being able to keep up with me, even if you're a right pain in the ass most of the time. You're one of the few people who get me. Heroes and villains like us live in our own little world; it's pretty hard for outsiders to really understand what we go through, and what makes us tick. Hell, you're probably the closest thing I have to a friend after Drakken, but were were more like 'evil family' - his words, not mine."

Shego made air quotes around the phrase "evil family", evidently not a fan of the term. "Could never really communicate with him, you know? Sometimes it was like we lived in two completely different worlds."

"Hey." Shego change the subject abruptly this time, as if she did not want to talk about Drakken anymore. "You tried dating people other than the doofus, right? Drakken and I definitely saw you dating some other dumb blond once."

"Yeah, Manky," Kim replied. "And don't call Ron dumb."

"Whatever, the point is: how'd it go?"

Kim bit her lip. "Not well. He was cute and nice, but we never really connected. Not like me and Ron."

"Exactly. Manky was just a normal teenager who tanned at the beach and probably smoked pot. Monkey boy was your sidekick and did shit with you. It really wasn't any surprise when you started dating him; the supervillains even had a betting pool about it, which I won by the way."

"Yeah, well it didn't really last," Kim mumbled as she remembered the breakup. "We kinda just... drifted apart after college."

"Shit happens, Princess, but don't worry; you still have me." Shego grinned toothily and gave Kim another squeeze.

"Oh joy." Kim promptly made a face and pretended to be sick over Shego's catsuit.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_We have an empty quiver, and what do the higher ups want? An ex-supervillain and a teenage amateur, neither of whom can act mature for more than 5 minutes._ Li frowned as he watched the two Americans bicker playfully between themselves. While he did not doubt their formidable experience in saving and terrorizing the world, respectively, this was a military operation which required discipline, training, and co-ordination. Kim Possible and Shego were two new variables freshly inserted into a very delicate equation; he had no idea how well they would mesh with the Internal Security teams. They might end up being as much a hindrance as a help, and if they cause the mission to fail...

Li abruptly terminated that line of thought. Thinking about darker possibilities was a waste of his time, especially when he had other matters to attend to. He glanced around the cargo bay at the operatives. Liu Chan sat next to him, relentlessly inspecting her Dragonov rifle. It was a sniper rifle of that first saw service around the Vietnam War, but it worked well enough even in this day and age, where hand held energy weapons could conceivably be widely issued within the decade - in America, at least. China's military infrastructure was groaning under the strain of a sluggish bureaucracy and it was unclear when they would ever get around to fully modernizing things. Some units were still using Type 56 assault rifles, relics of the Cold War.

"I have to say, Lieutenant," Li joked, "You're probably the only medic in the army who uses a sniper rifle instead of something more sensible, like a sub-machine gun or a carbine."

"What can I say," she shrugged. "I've got a surgeon's hands and a magic touch."

"You're a doctor that kills people. That seem vaguely inappropriate."

"I view as preventative medicine; long ranged surgery that stops the rest of you from getting shot." She laughed and slapped the butt of her rifle for emphasis. "But I'm not really a doctor, you know. Medics just keep people from dying long enough for an actual MD to do their job, which might be a bit of a challenge considering we're pretty cut off from support."

"I appreciate the reminder," Li joked. "I'll try to remember not to get shot."

"As long as I'm motivating you properly." She smiled at him and went back to checking her equipment.

Li's thoughts were prevented from wandering by the squawk of his earpiece activating.

"Major," the pilot notified, "We are approaching the drop zone; altitude 27,000 meters, ETA 20 minutes. Starting internal depressurization now. Area showing high pressure mass due to the cold, but we've got CAVOK. Looks like everything's going to be ready for MFF when we arrive. Good luck, Over."

"Understood," Li replied. "Thanks for the lift. Out."

He looked down the length of the plane at the people he would be fighting alongside today; three Internal Security teams and the two deadliest women on the planet. Everyone _was_ highly trained, so why was he worrying over it like it was his first mission? He shook off the pre-mission jitters and stood up.

"Attention!" He yelled, rapping the side of the plane with his fist in order to draw attention to his announcement. "I hope everyone's done inspecting their kit, because we've got a HALO jump in 20 minutes."

* * *

The biting cold of the frigid Tibetan weather worked its way through Kim's battle suit as she fell from the heavens down to earth. Her hair flared wildly as the wind rushed past her, carrying with it a smell of crisp mountain air.

Kim had accused Shego of being an adrenaline junkie in the plane, which she felt was somewhat hypocritical given that she loved the rush herself. There was nothing that could compare with the thrill of jumping from far above the clouds on a beautiful moonlight night, only deploying the life saving parachute at the last possible moment.

Well, no, she corrected herself. Dating Ron had been pretty good while it lasted...

Ok, so there were _few _things that could compare to throwing yourself out of a jet at 90,000 feet. It was just _that _awesome.

She caught a bright flash of light out of the corner of her eye, and turned her head to see Shego catching up to her with an infrared strobe light attached to her parachute harness. The signaling device was only visible to people who wore night vision goggles, allowing people to keep track of each other in the air while still being undetected by sentries on the ground - assuming that the enemy did not have night vision, of course. If they did, it would be fairly obvious that an attack was coming, but evidently the need to keep the team together outweighed the potential downside of telegraphing their arrival.

Unlike the others, who spread themselves wide in order to slow down, Shego tucked her arms into her body in order to speed up as much as possible. The woman rapidly drew closer to Kim's elevation, and it dawned on Kim that Shego was turning this into a competition.

If Shego wanted to be immature enough to turn their mission into some sort of contest, then so be it, Kim grinned. She streamlined her body as well and darted into the into the clouds beneath them.

As a child, Kim had always imagined clouds to be giant, white, fluffy pillow-like things. It turned out that in real life, clouds were more like cold, damp banks of fog. The flashing of Shego's strobe light disappeared in the mist, which left Kim alone as she dove down towards the earth. Moisture condensed on the lenses of her oxygen mask and blocked her vision; Kim wiped the water off with her hand and found to her surprise that the clouds had disappeared the time it took her to clear the lenses, replaced by the snow covered land of the Tibetan plateau.

There was no sign of Shego's IR strobe in the night, and the pressure gauge on her Kimmunicator was indicating that she had reached the altitude for deployment. Shego probably deployed while still in the clouds, so there was no need to keep the contest going. Kim pulled on her parachute cord and hung on as her free fall was brought to an abrupt halt.

Only then did a small, flashing light turn on below her. Kim then realized that Shego had concealed her strobe so that Kim would let her guard down and deploy first.

* * *

Li hit the ground near the landing site and was dragged through the snow for several feet before managing to disconnect his parachute. From his position on his back, he could easily see the others coming down to join him. Unfortunately, it seemed as if they were short by two people; a quick headcount after everyone had assembled revealed that the two Americans were missing.

Li had the radio man try to contact them, but the operator soon discovered that all the channels were filled with white noise. Evidently, their communications were being jammed - not a good sign. The only alternative would be to search the mountainside for the women, but that would take time that they did not have, and they had to cover three kilometers of difficult terrain to get to the missile site.

He gave the order to move out. The clock was ticking.

* * *

"You cheated."

An accusing finger accompanied the first words Kim said to Shego after the two had landed. Shego smirked in response and batted Kim's hand away from her face.

"You're just jealous that I won." Shego casually brushed the snow off of her catsuit and walked away from Kim. "Come on, Pumpkin, we don't want to be late for the fireworks. We're off by about two kilometers in the wrong direction and it's going to be hell getting to the silo in time."

"Wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been immature enough to start a competition over nothing," Kim grumbled as she turned on her Kimmunicator. Static greeted her instead of Wade's face, and it soon became apparent that the device was being jammed.

"Shoot," Kim cursed. Going into a mission without Wade's invaluable support was like taking the Factual Aptitude Test without a calculator.

"Good job keeping it G-rated, Princess," Shego yelled back at her. "You going to move that ass of yours or what?"

"Coming _dear_," Kim replied sarcastically, trudging through the snow to reach Shego. Movement was difficult and made Kim wish she could activate the jet pack Wade had installed in her battle suit, though that would probably have been a bad idea seeing that it was highly noticeable at night. By foot it was, then. Joy.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There were twenty Internal Security operatives all together; three teams of 6 mean each - Red, Blue, and Green - along with Major Li as the commanding officer and the radio operator, who had been specially requested for this assignment. It was not a lot to work with, but a larger force would have been hard to sneak in and the amount of military personnel with the precise skill set required for this sort of delicate operation were in pretty short supply anyways. Shooting people in the face was easy; keeping quiet about it was hard.

The group made it to a small hill half a kilometer from the missile silo, and was awaiting reconnaissance reports from the scouts since Chinese spy satellites left much to be desired. To pass the time, they had decided to go over the plan of attack again and much arguing soon broke out about how to carry out the operation.

I thought we'd settled this on the plane, Li though, irritated at the quibbling going on around him. The best way in for a large group is through the blast doors in the southwest corner, because the air vents are too small to crawl through. Once we get past that choke point, there will be one direct route to the control room and two alternates, all of which will be a nightmare to get through. We'll have to split up into three groups and leave the snipers and a machine gunner behind to cover the outside while the radio man teams up with an engineer to try and disable the jamming device. Each assault team takes a path and tries to make it to the control room and abort the launch. If any of us are left alive after that, we mop up the survivors and try to find hostages.

The temptation to light up a cigarette made itself known, but Li drove it back into the recesses of his mind. The light given off by a cigarette was visible for miles at night, and he could get by without any stimulants or a psychological crutch.

"Penny for your thoughts; you're brooding has piqued my curiosity."

Li jumped as Shego's voice drifted into his ear, drawing a laugh from the woman.

"Relax, we're on your side."

"A bit too close to my side; care to respect my personal space?" Li asked, distancing himself from the woman. "Where were you? I was beginning to think that we had payed you several million dollars for nothing."

"Never fear, I always deliver," Shego grinned. "Princess and I got carried away and landed a few clicks away from the rest of you, so we double-timed it here. The sentries told us to find you and report in, so here I am."

"And Miss Possible?"

"I was trying to get in touch with Wade," Kim answered, stepping into the conversation. "Talked with your radio operator about it, but we can't get past the jamming signal."

"Yeah, we're certainly not going up against amateurs," Li sighed. "Pity, I was hoping for an easy op, but I guess I'll have to file that wish in with the birthday presents I never got."

* * *

The scouts reported thirty men patrolling the perimeter of the complex. There were probably more inside, shoring up defenses in case of an attack. This meant that the heavy blast doors had to be secured rapidly before anything else, in order to ensure that the strike teams could make their way into the base as quickly as possible.

Kim balled her fists and swallowed nervously. Her suit's speed enhancements would help her take the main entrance, but it was unlikely that she could fight off the defenders in the base and the patrols at the same time. She shook her head and tried to clear her mind; focus on the objective, she told herself, and stop worrying about the rest. You'll have time enough to think about it when the world's safe again.

The four guards on duty next to the blast doors only saw a blur before being knocked out and tied together; the six on coffee break in a small building nearby who went to check out the noises received concussions for their trouble. The blast doors were closed, but a key card on one of the unconscious guards and a console in the guard building allowed Kim to unlock them.; It was just a matter of plugging in her Kimmunicator to the console and letting the decryption program do its work. The doors slowly began to slide open, signallingr the attack to being. Kim slid under the heavy door into the base to clear the perimeter for the incoming soldiers as all manner of hell proceeded to break loose outside.

Carefully aimed shots from the snipers neutralized patrol leaders, while suppressive fire from machine guns caught the disorganized guards by surprise. The guards took cover and began firing back, but the resistance was disorganized at best. Li led Red team in spearheading the push though the enemy fire and onto the launch pad, rapidly securing the site and efficiently dispatching anyone who was still fighting them.

Kim looked like she would be sick from the violence going on around her, but she managed to retain her composure as the assault teams met her and rushed into the base.

"Good job," Li congratulated, noting all the prisoners Kim had taken. "Liu, secure the prisoners somewhere. Everyone else, find your line of attack and get going, the clock's ticking."

"Whoo hoo, extra hoo. We get to go the direct route," Shego grinned, setting her hands aflame. "Dibs on the nutjob. Hey Cupcake, want to bet who takes him down first?"

"Just remember, we want him alive for questioning," Li reminded the woman. "We want to know why he's doing this, when he learned about the suit, how he got his way into a military base, where he got the access codes from, and who financed this operation."

"Yeah yeah, I got you. You want to hear him squeal."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kim was fast enough to disable guards before they knew she was in the room, and Shego's plasma could melt through walls like they were made of wax. The ability to power through obstacles until they reached the control room made the direct route more of a cakewalk than anything else. It took them less than ten minutes to arrive at the control room, and without a single shot fired. There was no more opposition down here; judging by the gunshots and explosions still ringing through the complex, the enemy had his hands full fending off the other teams.

The control room was like something Kim saw in the movie Doctor Strangelove, rows and rows of computers illuminated by harsh fluorescent lighting, with a large map of the world at the far end.

The target stood there, in a suit of stolen combat armor, watching the map and the countdown timer which read one hour and five minutes to launch.

"Greetings." He casually glanced at them over his shoulder, unperturbed by the fact that four assault rifles were pointed at him. It was a classic supervillain's attitude, one that Kim had long ago grown accustomed to hearing; cold, confident, and arrogant. "If you're expecting me to rant about my glorious plans, you will be greatly disappointed."

Ok, so this part was new. Villains usually loved a good gloat. It was practically an unwritten rule of engagement, not to mention a cherished tradition among the mainstream villain community.

"Instead," Yang continued, "What I will offer you is a chance to surrender. I do not wish for more Chinese blood to be spilled, especially not that of the People's Liberation Army, one of China's greatest assets."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have invaded a FUCKING NUCLEAR MISSILE SILO!" Li yelled, in an uncharacteristic display of anger. "Tell your men to stand down and take the suit off."

"Tell them how? Over the radio?" The helmet prevented them from seeing his face, but the sinister tone of his voice carried through just fine. "Shall I turn it on by pressing this button on the console?"

His hand quickly dipped down and came up with a Kalashnikov. Li and the others opened fire, but their bullets impacted harmlessly against the armor; Yang calmly swept the safety off and sprayed bullets across the room, catching several soldiers in the chest. While ceramic plate body armor could withstand most rifle rounds, armor piercing bullets with hard steel cores would punch through them just fine.

Kim quickly ducked and used her suit's speed to close up on Yang and reached for the rifle in an attempt to end the gunfight. She ran short on power just before she reached him, and found herself face to face with the barrel of a gun.

Kim reflexively reached out with her arm and twisted away at the same time, using her hand to add to the momentum of the gun as Yang turned it from the soldiers on to her. The gun swept past Kim and sent bullets flying into a computer behind her.

He tried to aim it at her again, but Kim was ready and stepped in close to Yang so he could not bring the rifle to bear and delivered a powerful blow to the receiver, which bent it out of shape and rendered the weapon useless. She followed with a swift kick to his knees, but he stepped back and countered by clubbing her in the side with his useless rifle.

Kim dropped to the ground and Yang raised the rifle in order to bash her head in with it, but a well placed plasma bolt melted it in his hands.

Shego stood on top of a console, eyes gleaming. "Hey, asshole, I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"So the student's come to avenge the master? How charming," Yang sneered. Kim took advantage of the opportunity to roll away from him and get back on her feet. She launched into an attack at the same time Shego did, and Yang found himself flanked by two of the world's best fighters.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Yang was more than capable of holding his own in combat; his fighting style demonstrated an exceptional mastery of kung fu, and the suit only served to augment his capabilities. The three traded blows for several minutes, taking the fight up and down the control room and wrecking most of the consoles. It ended abruptly when Yang managed to get his hands on Shego and activate the suit's electrical glands.

It was like being kicked into the radio tower all over again; Shego screamed in pain and dropped to the ground spasming as her hundreds of volts of electricity surged through her body. Kim was too stunned by what had happened to properly dodge the punch to her gut, which winded her and sent her flying over a row of computers.

Before Yang could reach for another weapon, Li jumped out from hiding beneath a table and rammed the butt of his rifle into Yang's visor, cracking the tinted glass and disorienting the man inside long enough to land several shots at pointblank range, which drew blood from the suit. Yang responded to being in close proximity to a rifle by grabbing onto it and initiating a struggle over control of the weapon, which resulted in the rifle accidentally discharging into Li's foot.

It distracted Li long enough for Yang to punch him in the temple and smash his head into a computer monitor. Yang leveled the rifle at Li's back, but found it disintegrated again by Shego's plasma.

"That's getting annoying," he commented lightly, turning around to face her.

"Glad to be of service," Shego shot back, circling him cautiously. "See you read through the user manual on that suit."

"Oh, that and a few other things," Yang answered. "Did you know that Victor had extensive notes about martial maneuvers and obtaining enlightenment as well? Those were very useful, more so than the data on this armor."

"Funny, thought enlightenment made you a better person."

"Enlightenment means you understand the true nature of things; it is beyond good and evil as we define it, as am I." Yang declared it, not with the fervent megalomania that most villains displayed, but as if it he were stating something as mundane his shoe size.

"Pity it doesn't make you smarter, then you'd know to avoid distractions," Shego snarked as Kim landed a flying kick to Yang's back. The small compartment on the back of the suit bucked under the pressure and collapsed, ruining the delicate systems inside of it. Yang turned to face Kim, which left Shego an opening to send a fistful of plasma into Yang's chest.

Shego did not hold back and let hand cut through the armor like a blowtorch; it sank into the the right side of Yang's chest and filled the room with the sickening smell of charred flesh. He hit the floor with a loud thud and made no further movements.

Kim turned her head away from the scene and tried her best not to throw up; she focused on helping Li out of the computer and bringing him back to consciousness.

"Controls," Li whispered, as he came to. "We've got to abort the launch. How much time do we have?"

"Plenty, there's more than an hour on the clock," Kim reassured. "For once, we've arrived with plenty of time to spare. Are your men ok?"

"Red 2's dead, Red 3 and 4 critical." Li shook his head to try and clear it. "Have you found the controls?"

"I can't read Chinese, but there's a flashing panel with a countdown timer on it over here." Shego stood by a console behind them pointed down. "But you're not going to like this; the countdown time on this one's different."

A dying man's laugh filled the room as the base shuddered. Warning sirens came online and red lights flashed through the room. Kim's jaw dropped in disbelief. This was impossible...

"Looks like someone messed with the clock," Yang gasped from the floor.

"There's still time," Li shouted, pulling himself up and limping to Shego's position. "We can disarm them from here."

"Not unless you want to dance the sarin jig tonight," Yang chuckled feebly, holding up a remote control in his hand.

Kim felt a prick under her armpit as the suit's built in medicine dispenser activated. Her helmet activated and covered her face and a cold, synthetic voice filled her ears, confirming Yang's threat.

"Sarin gas detected. Administering atropine/pralidoxime injection. Please evacuate the area and seek medical attention immediately."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kim hauled Shego and Li under the slowly closing blast door and dragged them outside to find the others waiting for them. Some of the soldiers were standing guard, but many were lying down with blue lips and shuddering. Kim knew that it was not from the cold, because Li and Shego were acting the same way; it was one of the initial symptoms of sarin gas poisoning.

"Not you too," Liu Chan groaned as Kim brought Li and Shego to her. "How are you feeling? Nauseated? Muscle spasms?"

"Wanna throw up," Shego responded weakly, leaning on Kim for support. Li could not even muster the strength to reply between his injuries and the gas, and clung to Kim with what little strength he had left. Liu quickly injected the two of them with the antidote and tried to make them lie down, but Li would have none of it. He staggered away from the medic cursing in the kind of Chinese Kim thought only existed in Firefly and limped off towards the engineer Kim had sat across from in the plane.

"Blue 4, they're going to take off." Li pointed at the silo doors, which were slowly opening right in front of them.

"Really? I didn't notice," the engineer snapped back. "Of course they're FUCKING GOING TO TAKE OFF!"

"What do we do about it?" Kim asked. "Should I go back to the control room and try to enter in the abort code?

"Given the level of competency we've seen so far, that probably wouldn't work even if you did know how to operate the console." Li cradled his head in his hands. "And I don't think it'd be a good idea to fight out way back through gunmen and sarin to find out."

There was only one other option. Li reached for his radio and squeezed the transmit button.

"Operator, can we call in an air strike?" If the radio man could call in the Migs, it would be possible to catch the missiles while they were still in the silos, effectively neutralizing them. True, the resulting explosion from a fully fueled ICBM would probably take out the Internal Security teams as well, but that was better than a nuclear exchange.

There as no response except for white noise.

"Sir," the engineer shook his arm. "Communications are still being jammed, and they wouldn't get here in time anyways."

"What, so we're fucked then?" Li yelled desperately. "Come on, there's got to be some way to disable them!"

Wade could do it. Her dad could probably do it. Unfortunately, neither of them were here and could not be contacted at any rate.

"Well," the engineer replied, "We can use our access codes to disable the warheads, which would be really useful if we could get to them."

"Why can't we get to them?" Kim pulled out her stick of laser lipstick and took the cap off. "I have a laser and Shego has her plasma. Do you guys have a blowtorch or something?"

"Well," the engineer commented thoughtfully, "I did bring along a lot of explosives..."

* * *

The plan was as simple as it was hastily constructed. Climb onto the nose of an intercontinental ballistic missile and forcibly open it up to access the warhead inside. Shimmy down through the hole and deactivate the nuke, then dismantle the heat shield so that it would burn up either going up or on reentry. Save the world, be back in civilization in time for tea.

What complicated matters was the fact that there were people shooting at her from within the silo. Kim caught a glimpse of several men pouring out from a door located halfway down the silo and managed to step back from the edge half a moment before a hail of bullets issued forth from their rifles. They would have to go before any work could be done.

Kim ran to the other side of the silo and jumped in, managing to land on a catwalk and catch one of the gunmen by surprise. A quick blow to the back of the head knocked him out, and left Kim in possession of his rifle. It was an old SKS carbine, with a full length rifle stock instead of a pistol grip, which made it better for use as a club than a modern assault rifle.

Another guard appeared in front of her, and Kim proceeded quickly close the distance between them, knock the rifle out of his hands, and send him reeling back with a stroke from the SKS. The next guard was prepared for her and opened fire, but her suit's shield absorbed the bullets. Ten rounds later, he was out of ammunition and out of luck as Kim knocked him into the silo wall.

That took care of the trouble, so Kim pulled out her grappling hook gun and used it to pull herself onto the top of the ICBM. She drew out her laser lipstick again and cut a wide circle in the top of the missile, kicked the newly created entrance in, and entered the missile.

The warhead was a cone shape object covered by a gray ceramic heat shield. Kim ran her hand around the side of the warhead until she found a slight indentation and activated one of the suit's utility functions, which formed a crowbar like energy field around her arm. She inserted the head of the crowbar into the indentation and pried open the cover of the access panel, revealing a numeric keypad.

"144537," Kim breathed, as she entered in the disarming code. The warhead would be rendered harmless after that, which only left the heat shield. The laser lipstick found a use again as she made several vertical cuts along the warhead's length, then pried it open like a flower, assuring that the payload would burn up on re-entry.

"So not environmentally friendly," Kim chided herself, relieved that the hard part was over. "Going to have to do a lot of recycling to make up for this."

As Kim and pulled herself out of the missile, she felt a powerful jolt as the rockets started warming up. It made her lose her grip and knocked her over the side; Kim tried to catch onto something with her grappling hook, but messed up the shot and sent it flying up into the air. Kim fell headfirst towards the bottom of the silo and scrambled to activate the suit's jet pack before the grappling hook finally caught on something and abruptly arrested her fall.

"Kimmie-cub, you're lucky you have enemies like me," Shego hollered over the noise of the rocket engines as she held onto the grappling hook's rope. "Let's get you the fuck out of here, eh?"

* * *

Despite his physical injuries and the lungful of sarin gas Li had taken, he was still cognizant enough to lead the mission. So far, Green and Blue teams reported in, having disabled their respective warheads with a mixture of high explosives, blow torches, and a preposterous amount of testosterone. That only left the two silos assigned to Kim and Shego, and when the missiles came to life he almost feared that they had not done it in time.

"We've disabled the warheads. What now?" Kim had to yell to make herself heard over the rumbling of the missiles. "How are we being extracted?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said there was any sort of an escape plan," Li answered calmly. "We're kind of screwed when it comes to leaving."

"You're joking." Shego started in disbelief. "That's it, we die? Fuck that, what ever happened to running for your life? Hell, why don't we just storm the base again?"

"Most of the men are too ill to move," Li objected. There was no emotion in his voice, just the kind of weary resignation that came from a man who had considered all the possibilities and found every one of them equally hopeless. "And the blast doors take too long to open, let alone cut through."

"I..." Kim swallowed. There was nothing more that she could do to help them, and it was killing her. The pain seized her by the throat as she choked out her last words to him. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... but my suit can fly, and I can carry one person."

"Congratulations; it was an honor working with the two of you," Li smiled sadly, giving Kim a feeble salute. "You should probably leave before the launch."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chinese Missile Tests Increase Tensions on the Korean Peninsula**  
By Joseph Sandhurst, Middleton Gazette

Last Wednesday, the People's Republic of China launched four Baofeng ("Tempest") V missiles as a test of the nation's nuclear capabilities. The Baofeng V class intercontinental ballistic missile was developed in the 1970's and deployed in 1985 as a long rage ballistic missile capable of delivering a 5 megaton nuclear warhead to distances of up to 15,000 kilometers, easily far enough to reach the United States.

This test comes at a time when tensions between the two Koreas have risen as a result of the sanctions levied against North Korea in response to the sinking of a South Korean navy vessel and the loss of 46 sailors. China has been North Korea's sole ally during the course of the most recent turmoil, and has refrained from openly condemning North Korea for the attack on the South Korean warship, though it has criticized the act itself. This missile test can be seen as an assertion of power by the People's Republic of China in a measure aimed at ensuring the survival of North Korea as a buffer state between it and American interests in the region.

South Korean, Japanese, and American leaders were quick to condemn the acts as a provocative act and an unnecessary display of force, noting that they threatened to add to the instability on the peninsula. The Chinese government maintained that the missile tests were a necessary measure to ensure that Chinese military technology remains functional. Chinese Ambassador Han Qi, who spoke at Middleton University yesterday, defended the tests and pointed to the joint fleet operations held by American and South Korean navies last month as an example of the exercises a modern military must periodically do to ensure their operational capacity.

North and South Korea have been at a state of war since the 1953 truce that brought about the end of the Korean War, and both countries maintain a high degree of military preparedness to this day.

* * *

**Outcome of Tragic Military Helicopter Accident Ascertained**  
Jenna Ma, People's English Daily

The fate of the twenty People's Liberation Army soldiers whose helicopter crashed on a training exercise in the Hei Long Jiang province four days ago has been confirmed by search and rescue teams. The helicopter wreckage was spotted by local farmers out on a picnic, who quickly alerted the local authorities to the crash site.

Preliminary reports indicate that all twenty soldiers were killed on impact, leaving no survivors. The cause of the helicopter crash is unknown, but it is suspected to have been a result of mechanical failures. The helicopter belong to the Russian Mi-8 "Hip" model of troop transports, which first saw service with the People's Liberation Army in the 1960's, and which have been the subject of numerous complaints in recent years due to decades of service without replacement or adequate maintenance. It is hoped that this tragic incident will spur the modernization of China's aging helicopter fleet with newer, safer models more suited to the demands of a contemporary military.

* * *

**Shengji Yang Corporation Suffers Setback in Combat Suit Program**

Marcus Burma, American News Network

This has not been a good week for the Chinese engineering firm. After the tragic murder of one of their chief engineers for reasons still under investigation , a chemical leak in the main engineering building set off a fire which spread out of control and badly damaged four labs. Though no personnel were injured, one of the firm's combat suit prototypes was destroyed. Fortunately, two other prototypes were salvaged relatively intact, and Chairman Yang has assured his investors that the suits will still be marketed to military and police organizations by the end of the year.

The company's stocks, which dipped in response to the fire, have now recovered and are expected to rise when the combat suits become available.

* * *

**Chinese Government Covers Up Rogue Spear Incident**  
Tabitha Loyd, National Informer

Despite the recent stories of a Chinese nuclear missile test, I have found starting new evidence that the entire incident was much more sinister than the Chinese government is letting on. After enough digging I, uncovered an obscure news report in a Chinese magazine for English readers that mentioned the deaths of twenty Chinese soldiers in a helicopter accident. This story was soon revealed to be implausible, as none of the soldiers listed as having died had piloting experience, which would have meant that there was no pilot aboard the craft. Furthermore, their deaths came at roughly the same time as the "destruction" of a power armor prototype, the death of its engineer, and the Chinese nuclear missile tests. I believe that these incidents are related; my suspicions were first aroused by the fact that the Chinese are too calculating to upset the international community with such a show of belligerence, and seek stability in the region as much as any other part, excepting North Korea, of course.

The Chinese government is likely hiding the truth of the incident from us, but I believe I now know what really occurred. The dead soldiers were a result of a fight between North Korean agents in the Chinese army and loyal soldiers who tried to stop them. The North Korean agents stole the aforementioned suit of power armor from its lab and started a fire to cover it up, in order to use its abilities to take over the military base where the missiles were launched from as part of a plan to strike at the United States using Chinese nukes. This would have the effect of crippling both of North Korea's enemies; the United States would be devastated by the nuclear aftermath, while China would bear the brunt of an international retaliation. While it may seem counter-intuitive for North Korea to try and attack China, keep in mind that the Chinese have hindered North Korea as much as anyone else; the Chinese only want North Korea around as a buffer state. A powerful North Korea, one that could become a regional player in its own right, would be as unwelcome by the Chinese as anyone else. The Chinese government has constantly kept North Korea down and manipulated its government in attempt to control North Korea as a puppet state, which lead North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il to purge pro-Chinese elements from within his own government several years ago in an attempt to remain in control of his nation.

_For more on Tabby Loyd's story, please turn to page E4_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ann Possible was a brain surgeon, but not a psychologist. Even so, she tried her best to gauge her daughter's mental health during Kim's teenage years in case the stress of school, teenage hormones, and saving the world became too much for her. The habit stayed with Anne after Kim went off to college. It was a little harder to monitor Kim since Middleton University mandated that all freshman live on campus for freshman year - in what James denounced as a vicious money making scheme - but when Kim came home on the weekends, Anne could tell that there was something not _right _about her.

Kim had always been serious about college, but now it seemed that she was throwing herself into school work in an attempt to hide from something. She had barely come out of her room this weekend, staying up there around the clock. Whenever Anne tried to drag her daughter out, Kim would invariably start talking about American history reading assignments or multivariable calculus equations, or organic chemistry reactions - anything to avoid leaving.

A knock at the door interrupted Anne's thoughts. Did Jim get off of work early again and forget his house keys, she wondered as she went to get the door.

If she didn't know better, she would have said that Kim had been traumatized by something, though what could possibly traumatize someone as strong as her daughter she did not know. Perhaps it would be a good idea to call in a few favors and have one of her psychologist friends come over for a talk.

Ann opened the front door to see a green woman dressed in civilian clothing and leaning against the door frame casually with a hand in the pocket of her jeans.

"Shego!" Anne explained in surprise, not expecting the former supervillain to show up on her doorstep. "Look, Shego, I don't want any trouble..."

"Hey, I'm not here to fight, Mrs. Possible. I just thought I'd drop by and see how Kim's doing. The computer geek's been worrying about her like a mother hen, and I guess it must be contagious."

"Wade told you about Kim?" Ann was skeptical; Wade Load was not the kind of person to reveal sensitive information to Kim's enemies.

"I was _very _persuasive," Shego replied casually. "Anyways, I'm here as a concerned... acquaintance. I promise you I'll leave the instant you or her want me to, ok?"

"If you don't mind, I'll ask her if she wants you before I let you in." Ann shut the door in Shego's face as politely as possible given the circumstances and quickly ran up to her daughter's room.

"Kim?" Ann knocked on the door softly, hoping that she was not disturbing her daughter. "Kim, Shego says she wants to see you. Should I call the police or...?"

"Shego?" Kim's voice was somewhat muffled by the door, but it sounded almost as if she had been crying. "I... I don't want to see her right now, Ok? I'm... busy, can you tell her to come by some other time?"

"Sure, Pumpkin," Ann replied, with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. It grew worse as she walked to the door and tightened into a knot when she saw Shego again.

"Have I been granted an audience with the Princess?" Shego asked, still leaning against the door frame.

"She said no," Shego expected the door to close, but Kim's mother held it open for. Shego raised an eyebrow, confused at the apparent invitation.

"However," Ann continued, "I'm not quite as confident in Kim's judgment as I used to be. I think she could stand to talk to someone."

* * *

Under normal circumstances, it would have been very difficult for Shego to sneak up on Kim, even allowing for the fact that the Possible family carpets were extremely soft. It was perhaps a sign of the severity of Kim's problem that Shego managed to make it to Kim's door and open it before being noticed.

"Mom! Knock before you -" Kim startled as Shego stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. "Shego! What do you want?"

"To talk, doy." Shego pulled Kim's chair away from her desk and straddled it, arms crossed on the back. "Didn't you pay attention to what your mom said?"

"I said I didn't want to see you." Kim's eyes narrowed as she sought out a line of attack. Perhaps if she jumped off of the bed and used the springs to propel her at Shego...

"From what I hear, you don't want to see anyone," Shego observed, locking eyes with Kim. "People are starting to worry. Got anything you'd like to say about that?"

"Nothing that's any of your business," Kim snarled. "Look, I don't have the time for your games -"

"Because you're busy with reading assignments?" Shego swept her arm around to emphasize the lack of books, papers, or any other study material in Kim's room. "It's been a while since I was in college, but I wasn't aware that tissues were a part of the curriculum."

Shego paused just long enough to let it sink in before moving on. "Look, I know you're going through a hard time right now, and you probably feel like crap. You're bottling everything up, all the guilt, all the anger, all the sadness... it's not doing you any favors, you know. Now, are you going to keep sulking around in your den or do you think you can open up about what's going on inside your head?"

"Why?" Kim's voice was strained, barely able to contain the surge of emotions flooding her system. "What is to you? Why do you even care?"

"Hey, can't a super-criminal be concerned about her archenemy?" Shego's joke fell flat and she quickly moved on. "Look, you saved my life by getting me off the launch pad, and I appreciate that. Figured I owe you one."

"Don't remind me," Kim mumbled. "I get enough reminders about that... I dream about it, you know. It's always the same; the screams of people being roasted alive as I run away, because I didn't save them. I couldn't save them and they died."

Kim sat on her bed, knees up to her chest and cradling her head in her arms. "God, I feel so... useless. Twenty soldiers and all the hostages dead, along with who knows how many terrorists... and some got away."

"On the plus side, you stopped for nuclear missiles from devastating America," Shego pointed out. "You know where they were going to hit?"

"D.C. and other major cities?" Kim guessed. "Everyone seems to target them."

"That's because most terrorists want to make a statement, and attacking a major city sends a very potent message, but that is a form of psychological warfare. If you really want to hit a country where it hurts, you go for critical targets like agricultural sites. The grain belt, for example. Can you imagine what would have happened if America's food production areas got irradiated, given the output of American farms? It'd be a nightmare... and you prevented it, so why do you have to keep focusing on what went wrong?"

"Because it shouldn't have turned out that way!" Kim yelled, fists clenched in anger. "No one should have died! People deserve to live, even the criminals, but they all died. Good, bad, innocent... I was there, and I should have done more to save them."

"Who are you, Jesus Christ? Superman? Dammit, Possible, I know it says 'Anything's Possible for a Possible' on your website, but you don't seriously believe that bullshit, do you? You're only human, and you've got your limitations. I know you've fought evil before, but there's worse people than me and Drakken running around; psychos who want to take over the world even if it means catching the rest of us in the crossfire and razing everything until the world is reduced to rubble with them standing on the largest heap. You've been lucky enough to avoid running into them so far, but it had to happen some day. Welcome to the real world, Possible; it's hell but it still needs saving like it always did, so either you get your act together or I'll beat it into you."

Kim pounced on Shego in response, breaking the chair and pinning the older woman to the floor. A stream of blows rained down on Shego, gradually softening until there was only Kim sobbing into her chest. Shego kicked herself mentally and hugged Kim, stroking the girl's hair to calm her down.

"I'm an idiot," Shego whispered. "Shouldn't have gone R. Lee Ermy on you."

"Yeah, you suck as a therapist," Kim agreed, hugging her back. Several minutes passed in a comfortable silence. Shego almost regretted it when Kim spoke again.

"Sorry for attacking you. I shouldn't have lost my temper." Kim could not quite bring herself to look Shego in the eyes as she said it.

"Heh, the curse of adolescent hormones and an underdeveloped prefrontal lobe," Shego joked. "Hey, want to hear a story, Princess?"

Kim nodded yes, and Shego adjusted her position so that Kim was lying beside her, with Kim's head on Shego's shoulder.

"You asked me why I was here. Well, truth be told, you've always reminded me of myself - only without the annoying brothers. You've gone through a lot of the things I did, including a harsh introduction to the real world. Did you ever read GJ's records of me? They should have mentioned a hostage incident at Go City Hall that took place in my freshman year at college. We tried to rescue the mayor, but... things went bad. Hostages died, policemen got show, the major ended up with a bullet in his spinal cord, and I severed someone's arm with plasma before kicking him out of a window onto the ground three stories below. I don't think I'll ever forget the smell of burning flesh and I haven't done anything like that since until I hit Yang. Honestly, I was too afraid to use my powers for months afterward, and even now I never fight with them at full blast just because."

Shego lit her hands up and let the warmth of the plasma spread over Kim's body. It was very soothing.

"But here's the thing I learned; our world is one where death is a very tangible aspect of life, and where not all stories have happy endings, not even for people like us. Especially not for people like us; we fight and we die fighting. That's our fate, and the best we can do is enjoy life when it's good and suck it up when it's bad."

"Is that why you quit Team Go? Were they getting in the way of having fun?" Hego had cited a growing fascination with evil as Shego's primary reason for leaving, as had Global Justice's psychological assessment.

"Nah, if that was the problem I'd have left before I graduated college. I quit when Hego's insufferability reached a sort of insufferability singularity which threatened to suck his head up through his ass. Tried doing the hero thing by myself, but it turned out that that stealing things paid a hell of a lot better than freelance hero work. Not everyone can get free rides like you, Princess."

It was true; Kim had friends, allies, and a position at Global Justice lined up for her since high school. Shego was likely completely on her own after she had gone independent. Was that the difference between a hero and a villain, the amount of love and support a person received? If so, could things ever change?

"Hey, Shego?" Kim craned her neck up to look at the older woman. "Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it."

"What can I say? One is defined by one's enemies, and I have to make sure mine are up to scratch." Shego ruffled Kim's hair affectionately and stood up. "Come on, Pumpkin, you've been cooped up inside for God knows how long. You need to go for a walk outside and see your friends or whatever it is you kids these days do."

Shego extended a hand to Kim, who was still on the floor and uncertain about accepting.

"I'll buy you some ice cream if you come. You like Cornettos, right?"

"More than life itself," Kim laughed, taking Shego's hand and pulling herself up.


End file.
